Things are clicking for Two Eagle River

When Two Eagle River played Arlee last Monday night, they found themselves immediately in a 9-0 hole as the Warriors jumped out to a quick start. Then Eagles head coach Clayton Malatare called a time out.

“We got them all settled down,” he said later. “Then it clicked to them after that.”

Two Eagle River would go on to outscore the Warriors in the second and third quarters before Arlee took the narrow 72-66 district game.

“I was really proud of them,” Malatare said. “They never got down on one another.”

It was also something extra special for Malatare, who use to coach in Arlee and still lives there. Before the game, many players on Arlee came up and gave hugs, adding a little sentimentality to the game. With players on their team also from Arlee, a favorite for the district title, Two Eagle River knew it was a big game for them and their coach.

“It was one we really wanted,” Malatare said. “The guys were really pumped up in the locker room.”

A positive attitude has been one of the keys to success so far this season for the Eagles. Earlier in the season, in their district opener against Noxon, the Eagles had also gotten out to a slow start with the Red Devils leading 12-6 after the first.

“That was a wake up call to us,” Malatare said. “We came out flat and we didn’t execute well. We let the calls and the crowd get to us.”

Two Eagle River tighten their game up, got the game to within two points after three quarters. In the fourth, they took a eight-point lead and then fended a comeback by Noxon, who missed two free throws with one second to go in the game to give the Eagles the 45-44 win.

It was a thrilling win and a learning lesson for Two Eagle River.

“I told the kids after the Noxon game that every game we could have a different leading scorer,” Malatare said.

That’s for the most part been absolutely true. In their last four games, Marcus Brown led the Eagles against Charlo with 14, Clayton Malatare Jr. was tops against Arlee with 19, Artie Medoza had 18 against Seeley and Skyler Rossbach was the leader against Noxon with 15 points.

Multiple players getting into double digits isn’t uncommon either. One could probably say that the Eagles have the most balanced attacks in the district. However, with so many scorers on one team, somebody has to keep everybody calm and on the same page.

No problem.

Malatare said that he’s seen lots of team leadership from TJ Cutfinger and his son, Clayton Malatare Jr. While he said he’s reluctant to shower praise on his own son, he said that he’s been impressed with the leadership from the sophomore.

“He and TJ have really taken it under their wing,” Malatare said. “They’ve already called a player meeting without the coaches. It’s been great.”

Also this season, Two Eagle River scored a big win over Seeley-Swan 71-33, which avenged a 65-33 loss last season. They also played Charlo and Arlee close this year, two conference favorites and two teams that scored big wins against them last season.

Things are changing in Pablo.

“This is probably the most fun I’ve had,” Malatare said. “This is a fun team. Even when they get down, there’s smiles on the team and we come right back.”

It’s still early in the season too, meaning there’s plenty of growth left for Two Eagle River. When it comes down to tournament time at the end of the season, that fun and positive attitude could pay some huge dividends.

Arlee Basketball Highlights

Here are some video highlights from Arlee's games against Lincoln last Friday.

Last night in Lake County Sports

A lot of teams got in their last game before Christmas break last night so lets take a gander...

Class A

Stevensville 67, Polson Boys 59
I will say that Polson still looked impressive in their loss and they played great at the end trying to make a comeback. They had the lead early in the first quarter, 21-18, but went stone cold in the second and went into halftime down 35-28. The Pirates couldn't make up the different in the second half and fell for the second time this season.

Stevensville - 18 - 17 - 15 - 17 - 67
Polson - 21 - 7 - 12 - 19 - 59
Pirates scoring - Kyle Bagnell 19, Louis Mohr 16, Vince DiGiallonardo 8, Sheldon Fisher 8, Tyler Krell 5, Cody Fischer 3

Polson Girls 42, Stevensville 38
The Polson Lady Pirates look like they're getting things together as they've won their second straight behind 12 points by Riley Kenney and 11 from Breanne Kelley.

The Lady Pirates jumped out to an early lead and weathered a tough fourth quarter to pull out the win.

Polson - 16 - 13 - 6 - 7 - 42
Stevensville - 8 - 10 - 5 - 15 - 38
Lady Pirates scoring - Riley Kenney 12, Breanne Kelley 11, Jonna Grant 6, Nina Orozco-Charlo 5, Jessica Bagnell 4, Heidi Rausch 2, Mackenzie Banner 2.

Frenchtown 56, Ronan Girls 27
Ronan lost their fifth straight but did keep things competitive in the first half. A ten-point second half hurt them mightily.

Ronan - 7 - 10 - 3 - 7 - 27
Frenchtown - 14 - 14 - 15 - 13 - 56
Maidens scoring - Courtney Clairmont 13, Tailyr Irvine 5. Ashleigh Lynch 4, Ashley Grandchamp 4, Justice Burland 1

Class B

Eureka 56, Mission Boys 40
The Bulldogs fell being in the first half 28-14 and couldn't make up the different in the second to lose their third straight game. They did see 15 points from Stuart Grant and 13 from Nikko Alexander.

Mission - 7 - 7 - 11 - 15 - 40
Eureka - 13 - 15 - 11 - 17 - 56
Lady Bulldogs scoring - Stuart Grant 15, Nikko Alexander 13, Austin McDonald 6, Austin Durglo 3, Josh Durglo 2, Jared Smith-Brown 1

Mission Girls 30, Eureka 26
Mission won their fifth straight game and stayed undefeated as they knocked off Eureka in a close one, 30-26.

Eureka - 6 - 9 - 6 - 5 - 26
Mission - 3 - 6 - 9 - 12 - 30
Lady Bulldogs scoring - Breanna Steele 10, Ashley Courville 5, Kyla Mitchell 5, LaGlenn Mitchell 5, Loren Erickson 2, Dawn Lynn-Rossbach 2, Stephanie Lewandowski 1

Class C


Arlee Boys 56, Superior 46
Arlee saw more production from their steady scorers Kasey Bridgewater and Trae Burland who had 14 and 13 points apiece. The Warriors led 36-22 at halftime and extended their lead by five points in the third before being outscored in the fourth.

Superior - 14 - 8 - 10 - 14 - 46
Arlee - 21 - 15 - 15 - 5 - 56
Warriors scoring - Kasey Bridgewater 14, Trae Burland 13, Thomas McClure 9, Jesse Pfau 8, Dakota Desjarlais 5, Beau Couture 5, Eneas Inmee 2

Superior 62, Arlee Girls 47
Superior defeated the Arlee girls 62-47 after a hot start to the first quarter. The next three would be closely contested battles but the Scarlets just couldn't make up the score from the slow start.

Arlee - 7 - 15 - 15 - 10 - 47
Superior - 14 - 16 - 14 - 18 - 62
Scarlets scoring - Mahalia Hendren 14, Kristyn Adams 11, Whitney Malatare 7, Alexis Schick 6, Kayla Desjarlais 3, Desirae Nault 2, Jenna Pablo 2, Eva Borderly 2.

Charlo Boys 68, Two Eagle River 53
Two Eagle continues to battle in every game they play, showing that no lead is safe against them. Charlo did have excellent play from Stephen Delaney and Chance Rosenbaum as the Vikings stayed undefeated on the season. Rosenbaum led all scorers with 23 points.

Two Eagle - 9 - 9 - 14 - 21 - 53
Charlo - 19 - 13 - 19 - 17 - 68
Eagles scoring - Marcus Brown 14, Clayton Malatare 9, Trevor Butterfly 9, Skyler Rossbach 9, K.J. Cutfinger 8, Luke Butterfly 2, Artie Mendoza 2
Vikings scoring - Chance Rosenbaum 23, Stephen Delaney 12, Chico Stipe 12, Dillon Delaney 8, Garrett Herron 7, Kevin Moll 3, Kolten Andrews 3

Five-time state champion Flathead edges Polson in dual

By Dixie Knutson of The Daily Inter Lake

It's not often in wrestling duals where it all comes down to one match, where the fate of a team rides on the shoulders of one athlete.

But that's what happened to Flathead's Steel Hahn on Tuesday night.

The Braves trailed the Pirates 34-19 when Hahn stepped onto the mat against Polson's Mike Devlin at 152 pounds.

Flathead knew it would get forfeits in the final two matches at 160 and 171 pounds - but it needed at least a major decision from Hahn to win the dual.

He came through for Flathead with points to spare, getting a pin in 3:22 to help the Braves down visiting Polson, 37-34.

"If we wouldn't have got that one, we would have lost the dual. That was a big one. The kid (Hahn) was wrestling is no slouch and he took to him right from the start," said Flathead coach Matt Owen.

It was Matt Owen's first dual victory as a head coach over his uncle Bob Owen.

"It was really fun to have my dad and uncle come down and bring their team to wrestle us. Hopefully, we will be able to make this a yearly tradition. It's definitely a good thing," Matt Owen said.

The Braves, fresh off their eighth-place finish at the Tri-State Tournament in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, had some open spots in their lineup.

"It was kind of a patched together team. We had some of our JV guys step in the lienup because we had a pretty tough weekend at Tri-State. Some of them didn't make weight and there were a couple who had injuries we were trying to get healed up. But all the younger guys who jumped in the lineup did a really good job - they went out there and competed hard," Owen said.

"The best thing (about Tuesday's dual) is we get more competition. Now we don't have anything til the sixth of January. It was nice to get something over (Christmas) break to break it up a little bit and not have almost three full weeks of practice before we saw some competition again," he said.

The Pirates got a few things out of the dual as well, according to Polson coach Bob Owen.

"For one thing, I get to compete against somebody I totally respect. Going against Matt, when he asked ... I'm more than willing to dual them anytime. He's a class act. I like doing that. He'd be a little stronger if he had his full lineup tonight, but it's still great competition for us and I'm willing to do it anytime," Bob Owen said.

"I think this was probably our best effort since we started. We told (the kids) last night - we know you're going against a Class AA team but we don't want you to take the idea that it's lambs going to slaughter. You guys are going up there to compete and I really felt like they did compete well tonight," he said.

"They were pretty excited about how they competed - and I am too."

As for the matches - there were some good ones.

(Polson's Josiah) Clairmont wrestled Connor (Thomas) really tough," Matt Owen said.

Thomas defeated Clairmont a few weeks ago during the Polson Tournament, but Clairmont stayed right with him on Tuesday, losing a 5-3 decision.

"The kid was being a little more defensive, but he wrestled smart. He was taking Connor's offense away from him. Connor needs to work on opening up a little bit, trying some new things," Matt Owen said.

"He wrestled pretty well against Connor at the Polson Tournament and even better here," Bob Owen said.
"A couple times he reached back for that headlock and it cost him. If we can correct that mistake, maybe we can make it closer," he added.

That was the match of the night for Bob Owen.

"Clairmont probably had the toughest guys, so he competed the best. But the whole group is responding pretty well to what we are trying to do. I think the pieces are coming together," he said.

Flathead 37, Polson 34
98: Double forfeit; 105: Dylan Moll (P) won by forfeit; 112: Craig Feistner (P) p. Easton Terry, :32; 119: Tel Motichka (P) won by forfeit; 125: Jake Kinkel (F) dec. Drew Fouty, 11-6; 130: Coty Piasecki (F) maj. dec. Jesse Alfiero, 10-1; 135: Jose Quinones (P), maj. dec. Brock Steller, 18-4; 140: Jacob Young (P) p. Jacob Egley, 5:36; 145: Alex Nystrom (P) p. Evan Eirckert, 3:20; 152: Steel Hahn (F) p. Mike Devlin, 1:22; 160: Jeremiah Gaiser (F) won by forfeit; 171: Larry Francis (F) won by forfeit; 189: Alex Rudolph (F) dec. Marlin Burke, 6-0; 215: Travis Ozegovich (F) p. Jereal Chiefstick, 1:17; Hwt: Connor Thomas (F) dec. Josiah Clairmont, 5-3.

Polson 59, Stevensville 67

Here some photos from tonight's game at Linderman Gymnasium.

This weekend in Lake County Sports

Hey everyone! Sorry about Saturday's lack of updates but I was struck with a horrible fever and headache yesterday that left me pretty much incapacitated. Modern medicine has me up and running tonight, here are the basketball scores from around the county...

Lake County basketball scores from over the weekend

Polson Boys 76, Whitefish 54
Polson Girls 57, Whitefish 23
Hamilton 45, Ronan Boys 43
Ronan Boys 56, Mission 18
Mission Girls 43, Ronan 26
Charlo Boys 55, Noxon 29
Charlo Girls 30, Noxon 26 
Two Eagle Boys 71, Seeley Swan 33
Two Eagle Boys 45, Noxon 44
Arlee Boys 70, St. Regis 30
Arlee Girls 52, St. Regis 26